Native Language Name: kâmvʹiri. The kṣtʹo, biniʹo, ǰâmčʹo, and
ǰâšʹi also speak the kâmvʹiri dialect, but they call the language by their own tribal names
(kṣtʹaviri, ǰâšvʹiri). Non-indigenous names include "Bashgali"
(from Khowar) and "Kati" (Morgenstierne
1926).

Linguistic Position of Kâmvʹiri: Kâmvʹiri is a dialect of Kâmkʹata-vari, which forms with
Vâsʹi-vari the Northern Group of Nuristâni languages (see the
Table of Languages). Being somewhat isolated, speakers on the
Pakistan side of the boundary diverge slightly from the dialectal norms of their more numerous cousins in
Afghanistan.

Pashto has displaced Kâmvʹiri in the villages of pʹâšaŋar, gâṇʹür,
ćünʹuk, šʹâŋir, šâlʹikuṭ, and mâc̣ʹiamon in kunʹař.

Subsistence: Kâmʹaston has extensive mountain pastureland, called so˜,
and lowland winter grazing areas, called ṣor, which support the raising of goats and
cattle for dairy, meat, and other products.
Communities are typically surrounded by irrigated fields. Crops include maize, wheat, millet, sorghum, several
kinds of legumes, and squash. During the
agricultural season the fields are the locus of women´s work, while the mountain pastures are the domain
of livestock-tending males. Arboriculture is
extensive, with an abundance of walnuts, mulberries, and various kinds of fruit.

Society: Kom tribal organization comprises a number of
agnatic groups that are bound together by a
common genealogy and ties of intermarriage. Each male in an
agnatic group is "X´s Boy" (X-dâra), "X" being the name or nickname of the patrilineal ancestor
from whom the agnates claim a common inheritance. This inheritance is mountain pastureland
(so˜), which agnates must manage and defend. In pre-Islamic times a male could not
marry the daughter of an agnate. If one of X´s Boys eloped with one of X´s Boys´ girls, he "split the
branch" and was denied further access to his patrimonial so˜. If he succeeded in
obtaining his own, new so˜, his inheritors would designate themselves as his "Boys",
otherwise they would become "nobodies." Nowadays, following Islamic and Afghân practice, men are
beginning to marry agnates´ daughters

As in other Nuristâni societies, there is a caste division between the
âźʹo 'freemen' and the bârʹi 'emburdened ones'. Before the
introduction of Islâm, the bârʹi were slaves, and even today they do not form agnatic
groups and may not own pastureland. They are responsible for all craft production and are divided into
two occupational subcastes: the ǰâšbʹari, who do woodworking, and the
čamkʹara, who are blacksmiths.

History: In the 500 years since the Kom occupied their present site of Kombřom, their
history has been one of expansion over the lower Lanḍai Sin watershed. At one point during their wars
with the Kṣto, they wrested away the region of so˜ that the Kṣto inhabitants shared with
their fellow tribesmen in the Dungal Valley, on the south side of the Ničangal-Kunar watershed. From
that time on the Kṣto have lacked so˜ and have had to take their flocks through Kom
territory to the upper Dungal Valley in the summer. The Kom also expropriated the so˜ of
the Binio, Jâmčo, Jâši, Ârom, Gawâr, and Kâta peoples in the lower Lanḍai Sin basin and further down
the Kunar to the present site of Nišagâm. Some so˜ in the Ničangal-Kunar watershed
were acquired from the Väi people who had been expanding eastward from Wâigal; the region around
mumdʹeš is said to have been won from the Väi in a game of quoits.

Their expansion brought the Kom into increasing conflict with the Afghân khânates that had
been encroaching into the Kunar basin from the south and east. As the Afghân Âmir Abdur Rahmân
Khân moved to consolidate his hegemony over these khânates in the late 19th century, he set his eye on
conquering the "infidels" (kâfirs), as the pre-Islamic Nuristânis were called then. His army under
Army Chief Ghulâm Haidar Charkhi
marched up the Kunar in 1895, and when the Army Chief reached Barikoṭ in December, he sent
emissaries to the Kom asking for negotiations. He claimed that all he wanted was tribute, and that they
could continue to practice their old religion. When a deputation of leading Kom elders arrived in Barikoṭ,
they were duplicitously taken prisoner and held hostage in order to intimidate the remaining population to
capitulate to the Islamic force. In January, 1896, Afghân tribal irregulars, led by a Muslim Kom turncoat
named Akram Jân, sacked the side villages of Uštroṭ, Pitigal,
and Sâret, while the main force marched up the Lanḍai Sin, captured Kombřom, and went on to conquer
the Kṣto, Mumo, and Kâta. Sons of tribal leaders were taken as "slave boy" hostages to the Âmir´s court
in Kâbul, and the males of the region were forced to undergo circumcision as a sign of their submission
to Allâh. All vestiges of the old religion were expunged by governmental mullahs sent in to reeducate the
newly converted. As a result Kom culture is today profoundly changed from its pre-Islamic
tradition.